Bizarre Stories of Lightning Strikes

1. The entire soccer team who was killed after being struck by a lighting during a match

During a game between Bena Tshadi and visitors Basanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, all 11 members of a football team were killed by a bolt of lightning which left the other team unhurt. Thirty other people received burns at the match. The two sides were drawing 1-1 in the match in eastern Kasai Province when the lightning struck the visiting team. The athletes from the home team curiously came out of the catastrophe unscathed.

2. The man who survived being struck by bolt 7 times and then commits suicide

The odds of being struck by lightning for an ordinary person over the period of 80 years have been roughly estimated as 1 in 3000. Yet, between 1942 and 1977, U.S. park ranger Roy Sullivan defied all odds after being hit by lightning on seven different occasions, surviving all of them.

Sullivan is recognized by Guinness World Records as the person struck by lightning more recorded times than any other human being, and gained a nickname "Human Lightning Conductor" or "Human Lightning Rod". He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 71 over an unrequited love.

3. The couple who was struck by lightning while they were having outdoor sex

A lightning quick sex session in a bush during a storm ended in a flash when a bolt of lightning struck the ground nearby making the earth move for the lovemaking couple. Jens Gottlieb, 36 and his 28-year-old girlfriend Lisa Gruhn had pulled into a parking space on the busy A44 motorway in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, western Germany, and after kissing and cuddling decided to get out of the car and head into the nearby bushes to make love.
Because the nearby service station near the town of Werl was relatively busy they went a short distance into the wooded area and hid themselves in a bush where they stripped naked. They were so carried away that they didn't stop even when thunder and lightning started to rip through the air - until a bolt of lightning struck the ground nearby. The terrified pair ran out of the bush naked and fled in a torrential downpour that followed the lightning strike.

4. The 13-year-old kid who was struck by lightning at 13:13 on a Friday the 13th

In August 2010, a British teenager proved Friday the 13th can be specially unlucky. At exactly 13:13 on the much-feared date, the teenager was among a crowd of 170,000 people watching an aeronautical display at the Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival, in the east of England, when all of the sudden, he was struck by lightning. "It's all a bit strange that (...) it happened at 13:13 on Friday 13" said the paramedic. Luckily, he only suffered minor burns and is expected to make a full recovery.

The teen was... 13 years old.

5. The biker who had his penis hit by lightning

A Croatian motorbiker will be praying that the old adage 'lightning never strikes twice' rings true. Unlucky Ante Djindjic, 29, from Zagreb was knocked unconscious when lightning struck his penis during a quick roadside toilet break. Djindjic said: "I don't remember what happened. One minute I was taking a leak and the next thing I knew I was in hospital. "Doctors said the lightning went through my body and because I was wearing rubber boots it earthed itself through my penis."

Djindjic escaped relatively unscathed from the incident, suffering only light burns to his chest and arms.He said: "Thankfully, the doctors said that there would be no lasting effects, and my penis will function normally eventually."

6. The girl who survived a lightning strike after the wire of her iPod diverted 300,000 volts 

A teenage girl survived a terrifying lightning strike after she was saved by the wire of her iPod. Schoolgirl Sophie Frost and her boyfriend Mason Billington, both 14, stopped to shelter under a tree when a storm struck as they were walking near their homes. Doctors believe Sophie survived the 300,000-volt surge only because it travelled through the gadget's wire, diverting it away from her vital organs. The teenager was taken to hospital and is recovering from burns to her chest and legs while Mason suffered damage to his eyes. Sophie will be thankful she was wearing her iPod, which she had been given four days earlier as a gift from her grandmother. Sophie and Mason were knocked unconscious by the lightning bolt while holding hands and taking shelter in a field. Mason came round and carried Sophie, who was scorched and unconscious, to a nearby road where he flagged down a female motorist who took the couple to Southend hospital. Sophie suffered burns to her body and legs, some temporary damage to her eyes and a perforated eardrum. (Link)

7. The girl who was struck by lightning during a sunny day

An 11-year-old western Pennsylvania girl is recovering after she was struck by a bolt from the blue. According to Lisa Wehrle, the sun was shining when her daughter, Britney, was struck by lightning, apparently from a storm several miles away.

The lightning hit Britney as she was walking down a hill in North Strabane Township with a friend about 2:30 p.m. that day. The bolt hit her on the left shoulder, leaving a burn-like mark and exited her wrist, where it left another mark. She was treated at a Pittsburgh hospital. Doctors discovered her arm was broken, but otherwise she's OK.

8. The woman hit by lightning that exit from her bum

A Croatian woman was left with a severely burned anus after a lightning strike which entered through her mouth left her body through her bottom. The lightning reportedly struck Natasha Timarovic's building as she was cleaning her teeth – with her mouth to the tap, sending the current through her body. And as she was wearing rubber-soled shoes, the lightning bolt was unable to earth through her feet – so it took the next easiest route, and came out of her rectum.

It then earthed itself via her moist shower curtain. 'It was incredibly painful, I felt it pass through my torso and then I don't remember much at all,' Timarovic said. A medic explained: 'Instead of earthing through her feet, it appears the electricity shot out of her backside… if she had not been wearing the shoes she would probably have been killed.'

The medic described the incident as 'bizarre, but not impossible.'

9. The diver who was killed after his tank was struck by lightning

A 36-year-old diver was killed off a Florida beach after lightning struck his oxygen tank. The man, whose name was not immediately released, was diving with three others off a boat near Deerfield Beach. When he surfaced, lighting struck his tank. He was approximately 30 feet from the boat at the time.'

The three other divers struggled to get the man back into the boat and radioed for help. The man was then rushed to the beach where a rescue crew was waiting. He was given CPR and taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy was planned to determine if he died by electrocution or drowning.

10. The girl who was zapped by lightning twice while in the shower

A 12-year-old girl in Gothenburg was struck by lightning twice while taking a shower during a thunderstorm. After dinner 12-year-old Alice went downstairs in the basement to take a shower when her parents heard her scream. Seconds prior to the child's outburst two loud claps of thunder had suddenly cracked outside and the rain began to pour.

Alice had been struck by lightning in the arm but her parents did not immediately understand what had happened. The child's mother, Cecilia Svensson, immediately went downstairs and began to help wash her daughter's hair when Alice screamed for the second time.
“She screamed again. She was holding the metal shower hose while rinsing off.”

Although nothing else was damaged in the house, the flash lightening must have struck and travelled, live, through the pipes. “It could have gone badly,” said Svensson, who also said she learned as a child not to shower during electrical storms but that this localized storm erupted quickly. (Link)